Baby Doll
by Master Spy advenger
Summary: Alice is a star soccer player, honor roll student, and an all around perfect near fifteen year old girl. Now, she will add one more item to that list. Mother. Can she deal with a teen pregnancy, and falling in love at the same time?
1. Pregnant

_**Hey all who were attracted to my summary and decided to read this story! So... I had a dream last night about pregnancy and certain twilight characters, and, being me, I just had to write about it. So, here it is, Baby Doll, by Master Spy Advenger. **_

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Alice Brandon was one month shy of fifteen years old, and about to do the one thing she never thought she would during her teenage years. She didn't even have the courage to take the pregnancy test at home, she had to do it alone at Wal-mart. She didn't have the courage to do it in her parent's house, the parents who would kill her if they found out that their daughter carried another life inside her. They only saw her as their perfect daughter, the honor-roll student, star soccer player. She wouldn't be able to play soccer any more if she was pregnant, the first time a school team would be playing without her. Try outs for the fall season were next week, and if she really was pregnant, Alice would not be out there. She would not even risk hurting her baby for a sport, and Alice knew first hand how rough varsity soccer could get. Once, a girl kicked her leg during the final minutes of a game, and Alice sprained her wrist when she made contact with the dry California ground at the odd angle she had it at. No way she would be playing when she had another life to look after. Just the thought of being pregnant at fourteen made Alice want to slap herself. How could she mess up like that? What was she thinking?

When she went to the end of the school year party at a classmates house, she was not thinking much. She was looking toward the future of going to high school, summer soccer camp and ready to celebrate a perfect 4.0 GPA that she had worked so hard to get, often staying up all night to study when she had a test the next day. The bright lights and loud music attacked her, and as she rejoyced with seventy odd classmates then end of their middle school life, she only want to have a good time. She didn't drink any thing, she didn't smoke any thing, even though she was offered both. She was not going to mess up her body, she had to keep it in perfect shape. However, she didn't think it would be so bad to lose her virginity to the man she loved that night, and she was sure that she couldn't get pregnant. She had heard that if you were young, it wasn't easy to have a baby. Yeah, right. First time, only once, and now she's probably pregnant. She hadn't told Jasper what she thought, she was horrified that he would break up with her because of it. What high school freshman wanted to be a dad? Alice loved him with all her heart, her best friend since the first grade, and he had told her countless times that he would be there for her until the end of time, but now that she was pregnant, would things change? Alice's heart faltered at that thought.

Alice first thought she might be pregnant at soccer camp, a two month camp in New Mexico that was for serious athletes only. You had to apply in December for the summer program and try out to get in, and of the five hundred odd girls who applied, only fifty-four got in, it was a miracle that Alice got her spot. While there, she ran seven miles, about one mile every nine minutes, and did soccer drills for hours on end with the other girls, and it had been a breeze. She never even thought of that night, except for when she missed Jasper so much that she let her mind wonder off to that corner of her mind. She tried to shove it back, like if she pretended it did not happen, it would go away forever, like the monster she thought lived in her closet when she was a small child. If she didn't focus on the terror within, she could go to sleep just fine.

That was, until her period was late. she brushed it off to her working off all her calories and didn't think much of it. Still... the thought of that night crept into her thoughts, she her stomach did turn overs when she thought she might have gotten pregnant. She didn't hold that thought for long, only a few seconds, before she slapped herself in her mind and told herself there was no way she was having a baby, it was only one time after all! Being pregnant was not some thing that could happen to her, that only happened to girl that slept around and were... older than she was, right?

She was not so smug when she started to throw up in the middle of July, that was when she really started to worry. She was constantly stressed out, and even worse, the ugly red blotches she got along her neck were impossible to cover up in New Mexico, where the daily temperature soared to the triple digits, where she would run around all day, having a good time with the other girls, but working on her skills at the same time. Some people asked if some thing was wrong, and she just told them that camp was getting to her a little. There was no way she would tell some one she thought she was pregnant, Alice knew she probably wasn't, and she would only embarrass herself saying that she thought that was possible.

She started to have dreams about her being pregnant, or holding a baby in her arms. In one dream, Alice was in her family's living room lying on her stomach, wondering how much longer it would be the perfect flat one she had worked so hard to keep that way, and at the same time, worrying that lying on her tummy would hurt her baby in some way. Her mother was on the computer, and said some thing along the lines of _'Issac will be with us by then.' _Issac. Alice had thought. She knew her mother was talking about her baby. In another, Alice was in the hospital, holding a perfect little girl in her arms, whom Alice had named Sophie. Alice started to picture herself holding a child in her arms, their tiny heart beating in her stomach... and it was more than she could handle.

When she missed a second period, she was sure she was pregnant, but still told not a soul. Today was her first day back, and she had just bought a pregnancy test at Wal-mart. The person who sold it to her gave Alice a sad look as she watched Alice shove the bag with the test in it into her purse, not wanting any one to see threw the plastic to what she had. Alice turned away angrily. She did not want this stranger's sympathy, that person did not even know her! Alice wished she would stay out of Alice's own private life, but at the same time, she was glad she did not question the object. Alice had plans made out for what she would say if someone asked her if her parents knew, if the test was for her, her mother, a friend. If this was some kind of joke. She was glad to not have to use them.

Alice sat in the bathroom, silent tears running down her cheeks like bullets, imprinting themselves in her flesh, leaving trails of wetness behind them in their wake. Alice didn't make an attempt to wipe them away, she only knew that more would come to take over the job for the ones that were lost. Alice held in her hands the test, one word stamped in the box, one word that would change her life. _Pregnant. _The little block letters so formal, like the grumpy nurse at the hospital Alice had been in the care of when she slammed her head against the dashboard of a car during a minor car crash. They got the job done, but not in the way you would like. Alice knew she was two months pregnant, in seven months, she would be a mother. A mother. At fifteen. No. Abortion? Never. Adoption? Maybe.

Alice could not put full sentences together in her head, she was too upset to even think. Her parents would kill her, Jasper would dump her. She would be alone, hated, and pregnant when she should be at the top of her game, when her life should be at it's greatest. Now, she had gone and messed every thing up for good. She just had to have sex, she just couldn't go to Planned Parenthood for the morning after pill, she just couldn't say when. When she should be graduating high school, she would have a four year old child. Unless she gave her kid up for adoption. Alice knew that would probably be best, she could take care of a child when she could barely take care of herself! Alice hated herself, she had gotten herself into this mess, Alice had brought this on herself. This was not only her life, but the life of a baby as well! And not just any baby, her baby. Alice had to tell herself over and over again that she was going to have a baby, she didn't want to believe it. This was her worst nightmare come true. And now, unlike at camp, she could not ignore it, pretend she was not carrying an infant inside her. It was real.

After a full hour of crying, Alice stood up and threw the test away in the trash can. May she never see another one for as long as she lived. The little devil, the spawn of hell. Alice turned to the mirror and folded her top over her mid stomach, running her small fingers around where a tiny baby would now be growing. Alice loved this baby, and she hadn't even met him or her yet. Alice wanted to feel him or her move inside her, to have him or her kick at her rib cage. This baby would be a soccer player, just like their mother. She smiled at that thought, the thought that she would soon have a child that looked like her and Jasper mixed together, a genetic and Godly gift to them. If only he had waited a few years to give it to them. If only Alice had not been so cocky that night at the party, if only she had not encouraged what Jasper to do what he did. If only she did do what she had done. The what ifs went on forever, but Alice knew they made no difference now. The only thing that mattered was that Alice was having a baby, and that it was her job to bring him or her safely into the world, her job to take care of them and love them for the rest of her life. Alice hoped she would be able to do that right, and not mess it up like she did every thing else.

Alice left the bathroom, walking differently than she had when she went in. When she went in, she looked like she was on a mission, like she was a spy looking for the information that would save the country, but at the same time, could not get caught. Now, when she walked out, she looked like someone had put weights on her back, and she was forced to carry them all. Her thoughts were racing and her emotions were haywire. Her black hair was messed up, and her hazel eyes her bloodshot. Most people would probably think she was on drugs, she had been in there so long, and came out looking so horrible. Alice didn't care, she just wanted to go home, to try and find out a way she would tell her parents they were going to be grandparents and Jasper he was going to be a father.

When Alice had gone into the store, the sky was clear and blue. When she left, almost black clouds had moved in, and rain was falling from the sky, like Alice's own tears were not enough, the heavens had to cry for her too.


	2. Telling Bella

Alice thought of all the things she couldn't do any more. She wouldn't be able to play soccer, even when her stomach was flat. She wouldn't be able to run around all day like she was used to, and she wouldn't be able to go out with her friends. Alice was always going to be a mother to some one from now on, even if she gave up her baby, that wouldn't make her any less of his or her mother. The thought seemed unnatural, like she was telling herself it in Korean instead of English.

Alice hadn't planed on crying on the short walk home, but that's what ended up happening. The raindrops that fell on her head and on her face masked them, but any one looking close enough to see that her cheeks were inflamed, that her eyes were blooded, would know that they were watching a girl mourning.

She got home no more than fifteen minutes after she left the Wal-mart. This was the house she had lived in for years, but when she first saw this house, when she was only a wide-eyed child with her head in the clouds, did the thought ever cross her mind that she would be having her first child here? Alice couldn't tell her parents yet, but she knew she had to soon. The baby needed special care, didn't it? And it wasn't like she wouldn't be getting a baby bump in a month or two, either way. But when she saw the two of them... they looked so happy right then... she couldn't get the words out, she couldn't force herself to utter the words that she didn't even want to know herself. Alice hated letting them down, ans she had just let them down to the up most degree.

They had wanted to go out to celebrate Alice coming home, but she told them that she was tired from the trip back and wanted to go to bed. This wasn't a lie - mentally - she had never been so tired before in her life. Alice went to her room and shut the door for effect, and flopped down on the ground, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. Alice had to tell some one, she couldn't keep these a secret for long, and she wasn't ready to tell her parents or Jasper. She dialed her best friends phone number by heart, and leaned against her door, getting comfortable for the long call ahead.

"Hey Alice, how was camp?" Bella asked, sounding the same as every other time they had spoken on the phone. She really would have no way to guess what Alice was about to tell her.

"It's not important," Alice said, knowing if she didn't say it soon, she wouldn't get up the courage again. She took a deep breath, and when she let it out, "Bella, I'm pregnant." Came out with it. She had said it so fast she wasn't even sure she said it, and Bella didn't answer for a few seconds.

"Okay, if you're joking, it's not funny, and if you're serious, we are not having this conversation via telephone, are you or are you not kidding?" Bella asked, sounding like Alice thought a concerned mother would. Bella was like a mother to everyone, no matter what.

"I'm dead serious." Alice promised her, wishing she could suck the words back in and live the rest of the day without thinking about the baby inside her. One more day to be a normal teenager, one more day not to think about it. Was that too much to ask for in life?

"Mom!" Alice heard Bella yell. It sounded like Bella had taken the phone away from her mouth, but Alice still heard it perfectly. "I need you to drive me to Alice's! It's an emergency!"

"Come in my window." Alice told her, hoping she would hear if she didn't have the phone held to her ear, "My parents think I'm sleeping." Alice couldn't let her parents know any thing was off, they had to think every thing was still perfect in Alice land. Thank God Alice's room was on the bottom floor of the house, or Bella would kill herself climbing in the window. Let's face it, Bella was not that talented.

"Got it, see you in eight minutes." Bella promised, then hung up without waiting for her to say goodbye back. Would Bella still want to be her friend once Alice got hugely pregnant and wasn't the same person she was now? Alice fought tears again, for what felt like the millionth time that day. How had one seemingly innocent night had this much of an effect over the rest of her life?

Just as Bella said, exactly eight minutes later Bella was stepping over the wall to get in the low window, which Alice had left open for her dispite the rain, of which was showing signs of slowing a little. Starting at only about a yard or so off the ground from outside, it wasn't that hard to get in when Alice left it open. Bella's normally light brown hair was dark from rain, and her eyes looked slightly wild. Alice knew all too well how unpredictable Bella could be, and she found herself slightly afraid. She would have been more worried if she didn't also know that Bella could never hurt a fly, much less her best friend.

"How sure are you?" Bella asked, taking this battle the locgical way first, before she went into an emotional rampage.

"One hundred percent." Alice said grimly. She had a feeling she would be using much more of that tone for the next seven months, until her son or daughter was born. "I'm also one hundred percent sure he's Jasper's." She added, not wanted Bella to think worse of her than she already must.

"What were you thinking?" Bella asked, looking at Alice like she had slapped her in the face. Alice wondered what was running and streaming around Bella's mind right now, what she thought when she looked at Alice's stomach. She may not be showing yet, but that didn't mean she didn't have her baby tucked away in there.

"I wasn't," Alice sighed, "that's the problem." Alice really didn't want to lose it again right here in front of Bella, but she could feel the lump in her throat and the stab in her head that meant that tears were coming. She fought to hold them back until Bella left.

"What are you going to _do _Alice?" Bella asked, sounding like it was her problem just as much as it was Alice's.

"I'm not sure yet," Alice answered after a minute, "It's not like you just know what to do when you are fourteen and pregnant." That was when she let the tears fall in clumps down her face.

Alice had never thought she would be upset to be pregnant; she had always wanted to be a mother and have a baby. In fact, she had been looking forward to it. Of course, she didn't think that would be happening until her late twenties at the nearest, not her early teens.

"How are you going to tell your parents?" Bella asked, plotting out how she would help. Alice had never been so happy to have Bella as a friend, some one who would be there for her even when she messed up and got pregnant.

"I figure I'll just be blunt, you know?" Alice told her, getting lost in the words. "Just say: 'Yeah, I went to a party, had sex, and now I'm pregnant." She sighed.

"Don't you think there's a better way to tell them?" Bella asked. Normally, Alice didn't mind that Bella liked to have every detail on every thing, but now, she was getting annoyed.

"I don't know Bella!" Alice snapped, "I don't know any thing right now! How would you be handling this if you were the one pregnant?"

"Look, I know this isn't easy for you," Bella said, lowering her voice, "And I don't know what I would be doing."

"I just really don't know what to do right now." Alice told her, breaking down. She never lost herself like this, but today had been the worst day of her life, and she needed a good long cry in her own self pity. Pity for herself, and pity for the baby that was going to have a messed up life because Alice couldn't wait for a few years.

"Whatever you do decide to do, I'll be there for you, and I know Jasper will too." Bella told her, sounding like she knew that last fact better than any thing else. "He loves you, Alice."

"I know he does." Alice whispered. She couldn't make her voice go any louder, even if she tried. It was like the baby took her voice from her.

"So... got any name ideas?" Bella said, trying to change the topic to a lighter one.

"Yeah actually I might." Alice said, laughing a little as she wiped her eyes on her arm. "But I'll change my mind tomorrow, you can be sure of that."

"What are they?" Bella asked, sounding entertained.

"Issac for a boy, Sophie for a girl." Alice told her, finding that she liked the names she had gotten from her dreams. "But like I said, tomorrow I'll like some thing totally different. And If I give him up, I won't get to name him at all."

"Is that what you think you will do?" Bella asked.

"I'm not sure. I want to keep him so bad, but I want him to have a good life, too." Alice answered, knowing she was going to have to make the hardest choice of her life. She didn't even know if she could trust strangers to take care of her baby or not. She knew she couldn't.

"I trust you to do what's right for you and your baby." Bella told her. "It feels so weird to say that: Your baby."

"Think about how weird it must be to say: _my _baby!" Alice told her, laughing a little again.

"Do you know how far you are?" Bella asked, getting into it now that she was used to it.

"Two months." Alice answered. She knew she only had about a month to tell her parents before she got fat with a baby bump.

"Let's see your tummy." Bella said, asking at the same time.

Alice laughed, tugging up her top a little so Bella could see where Alice's baby was growing.

"Alice!" Bella said, sounding surprised, "You've got a little bump going on!"

"What? No way!" Alice said. Her mind was spinning; there was no way that was happening so soon! She was only eight weeks, nothing should be showing yet! She needed more time!

"Well, it's tiny, you probably couldn't see it from your view, but it's there." Bella told her, "Of course, if only looks like you ate a little too much, not that you're pregnant."

"Wow, thanks." Alice said sarcastically.

"Will you be there when I tell my parents?" Alice asked after a minute, sounding meek. She didn't want to face her parents alone when she changed their lives forever.

"Course, Al." Bella said, "On two conditions."

"What are they?" Alice wondered, knowing Bella would have some thing up her sleeve.

"One: We have to do it tonight. Your baby needs to be checked on, and so do you. Two: I get to hold the baby at least once before you give him up for adoption. If you give him up for adoption." She rephrased, knowing nothing was for sure still.

"Okay, then let's just do it now and get it over with, or I'll never do it." Alice said, and Bella nodded.

Alice opened the door to her room, knowing that when she came back, every thing was going to be different.


	3. Telling the family

"Alice, I _will _use force if I have to, you know that, right?" Bella hissed as quietly as possible at Alice. They had made it a full thirteen steps out of Alice's room before she froze in place, terrified of what she was supposed to do.

"Bella, I can't," Alice said, sounding like a lost three year old. Fear and panic crept into her eyes when she realized when she sounded that way, and that in three years, she would have a three year old that would sound that way after getting lost from her. That is, if Alice kept... she didn't know if she should say he or she. She didn't want to call her girl a boy or the other way around , but an _it _wasn't right either. It sounded like her baby was an animal or some thing. Alice's baby was no where _near _an animal.

"Alice Brandon, yes you can." Bella insisted, "I've known you long enough to say that you _can _do this, I know it. You are strong, all you have to do is walk down those steps and say a few words."

"What am I going to tell them?" Alice snapped. Any control she had, any lose grip on her emotions was totally lost. She had only found out not two hours ago that she was pregnant, even though she had an _idea _before she took the test, it was still up in the air if she was or not. It was hard for her just to tell Bella, who was so go with the flow about things that Alice didn't think she would stay mad with Alice - if she got mad at all - for very long at all. Her parents were a different story.

"Just go up to them and just say it! Two words: I'm pregnant. It's that easy Alice, you can do this." Bella soothed her, trying to keep her best friend out of the fire as best she could. The fire that raged within her own self, the sheer strength of her powerful emotions. Knowing that she had very likely turned her entire life into a train wreck. Bella suddenly felt bad about coaxing Alice into this so soon: she needed time to cope before she went off and told some one else. At the same time, she knew it was for the best. There was no way she would be able to get to a doctor without parents to sign the consent forms, and at eight weeks, the baby would need _some _form of check-up, right?

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one with an infant in you!" Alice hissed, sounding like she was ready to spit venom. Bella had faced her friend's fury a couple of times - but this had to be the darkest moment. There was nothing worse than the situation Alice was in right now, and Bella wasn't about to kid herself into trying to make this out to be a good thing. It wasn't.

"I know I'm not, but just do this. Please?" Bella said, wondering how much longer it would take before Alice either ran back to her room and locked Bella out, Bella picked Alice up and carried her to her parents, or Mr. and Mrs. Brandon heard all the hissing and came to see what was going on. Only one of those would have an end scenario with Alice getting her way, which meant she was by far out numbered here.

Alice looked like she had aged fifty years in the last few minutes. Who wouldn't, with the news she had just been given - or, well, given herself. Bella didn't think this was fair, one night, one mistake, and her whole life was changed forever. Whatever happened to a do-over, like every one insisted on in the good old days? The do-over made fouls in baseball go away, gained a turn in a board game, and gave you an extra day to turn in a permission slip. The only way Alice would be getting a do-over was for her to allow some one to kill her baby, her own flesh and blood. Jasper's own flesh and blood.

Bella liked Jasper enough, considering she had only just met him a few years ago when middle school started and five elementary schools were merged into one sixth grade class. She had talked to him a few times - even worked on an English project with him last year for a good two weeks - but they were never close. Not close enough for her to be okay with him impregnating her best friend. Jacob always did say that if any guy gave her trouble, all she had to do was call... this counted as trouble, right? No, no, Bella told herself, she was sure it was equally both their faults. Both of them had been drinking that night, for sure; Bella had seen Jasper's sister struggling to keep him upright when the party ended, and Bella had to help Alice get inside her house. Of course, it became clear that night that a bit much alcohol for Alice was two beers and a few sips of wine.

"Okay, let's just do this." Alice mumbled, but stayed rooted in her spot for a few seconds after the words were uttered.

"Alice! Come!" Bella said, getting ready to use the force she had promised. Bella was so close to getting her through this, they were not going to backtrack right to where they started.

"Bella, seriously, you need to chill out." Alice whined at her, taking a few step forward, looking as if the floor would be pulled out from under her any second, sending her falling, falling, falling, right through to the center of the earth. Or was that what she wanted? Any thing to keep from telling?

"You know I'm only doing this because I love you." Bella reasoned in an even voice, trying to get Alice into as deep as a calm state as she could. The last thing she needed was for Alice to snap again. One more outburst, and Bella knew that would be the end of her patience. She knew her best friend well.

They walked at a slow pace, every fifteen steps or so Alice swearing she couldn't do it, pausing for a few seconds before Bella got her moving again. It took more than ten minutes from the time they left her room to the time they were at the mouth of the living room, where both of Alice's parents were sitting.

Bella looked over at Alice, seeing her pale and breathing at unusual times. Red blotches were on her neck and collarbones, grown from stress like flowers. Red roses in the snow. Bella was proud of her for making it this far, but she knew they were far from done; they had just begun.

Alice cleared her throat, and took a few shaking steps forward. Bella was amazed that Alice was still standing in fact, she was trembling so hard.

"What's the matter Alice? When did Bella get here?" Mr. Brandon asked, sounding confused and surprised all at the same time. The look on his face was priceless, but neither girl could enjoy it at this time.

"She came in my window." Alice muttered, not sounding too clear, like if her words were obscured, so would their meaning. Maybe obscuring the meaning would make this go away.

"_Why _did she come in your window?" Her mother asked then, "And why do you look like you've just seen your grandfather's ghost?" Bella almost smiled at that. She had met Grampy Brandon only one time before he died, and even that had been long enough to know he wasn't a very great person to be around. Seeing his ghost was some thing most people probably had nightmares about. Bella knew for a fact that the old man had haunted more than one of her night time dreams.

"Well, I sorta _have _seen some thing kind of unpleasant." Alice stuttered out, even quieter than the sentence before that.

"What?" Mrs. Brandon inquired, wondering what could scare her daughter so badly.

"Just promise you won't do any thing drastic... please?" Alice begged, her voice becoming more and more clear now as she got used to the idea that she ws here, telling her parents. There was no going back now without them knowing some thing was up.

"Just tell us what happened," Her father demanded, sitting up straighter, as if he was getting ready to tear apart whoever had upset his daughter.

"Okay, I'm not going to jerk you around, I'm just going to say it: I'm pregnant." Alice said, then braced herself for the attack. The yells, the screams, whatever else they had planned for her. Alice wanted to take back her words so badly, so, so badly. she should have waited, gained an extra few weeks to wallow.

Nothing. Not one word.

Alice looked up at her parents to see their faces full of shock, disbelief, but no anger.

The first sound: a laugh.

The small giggle came from her mother, sounding almost like she was forcing it, when really she was scared out of her mind.

"You're kidding, right?" She asked, trying to sound like it was some thing she was sure of, a statement, not a question.

Alice could only nod her head, a silent tribuet that she was truly pregnant. The seriousness on her face was not some thing that could be acted out.

"How could you be pregnant?" Her mother's voice was pitched higher than usual, shock wavering in it like a white flag.

"We have a lot to talk about," Alice sighed, then said, "Don't worry, I know who the father is."

Alice figured that might comfort them as she sat down to talk, about every thing. Bella stood in the doorway, silently watching the lowest point of the Brandon family play out in front of her.


	4. Week Nine

"And… there's your baby." The ultra-sound technician pointed out what looked like a tree stump: a perfect circle with many multi-colored rings. It was so tiny that Alice was amazed that anyone could pick it out from everything else on the screen: it looked exactly the same.

"Wow." Alice answered dryly, not knowing exactly what to say.

It had been a week since she found out she was pregnant – a full seven days since her life had changed forever. Today was her first doctor's appointment – basically all they were doing was drawing about a thousand samples of blood and a very short ultra-sound.

Alice had been matched up with a blond thirty-something that looked like an aged version of Rosalie. Alice could only imagine what thoughts had gone through her mind when she saw that Alice was only fourteen. Everyone in the waiting room probably suspected that Alice was here with her mother – no one wanted to think that someone who could not even buy a ticket to an R rated movie was having a baby.

"You take good care of that." The doctor ordered as she moved the picture on the monitor around so she was looking at the other side of the baby's head.

Alice wanted to tell her that she would do nothing but that; that this baby was her first priority in life. No matter how upset she was, Alice had loved this baby since to second she found out she was pregnant, but it still felt… wrong to be happy about it. Was there any option _but _misery when you were fourteen and pregnant?

"No matter what you do, this baby will always belong to you." The doctor told Alice, as if she was reading her mind. Her voice sounded like that of a caring mother, rather than of a judging doctor.

Alice pretended she did not hear her. Instead, she glanced at her mother, who was sitting next to Alice; watching the monitor screen with a detached expression. Mrs. Brandon had not taken the new good, but she had not taken it as bad as Alice had expected she would. Alice was looking forward to the day where she did not have to tip-toe around her parents, for fear of pushing them off the edge.

"Well, I've seen everything I need," The woman went on, wiping the ultra-sound wand off with a paper towel, "You are defiantly pregnant. I'd put at about nine and a half weeks, with a due date of March ninth."

"Thanks." Alice muttered as she started to wipe the sticky gel off her own stomach. To her dismay, it was the sort of thing that did not want to come off: it merely spread around into thinner layers on her skin.

"Now, because you are under fifteen, you have several risk factors involved with this pregnancy." She went on in a warning tone, as if she suspected Alice of reckless actions that would put her baby at risk.

"I'll be fifteen in ten days." Alice answered as she stood up, giving up on getting all the gel off and figuring she would just take a shower when she got home. Realizing as soon as the words left her mouth that she sounded like a first grader bragging about how old they were, Alice wished she had just shut up.

"Still, you are _very _young to be having a baby. I'm setting you up for another appointment next week so we can make sure everything is still going good, and you'll need to take prenatal vitamins." The lecture continued in a stern voice. Alice only nodded in agreement.

"Okay." Alice answered, wondering if she would ever get a chance to say more than one word at a time.

Setting up her next appointment did not take long, and soon enough Alice and her mother were making their way back through the crowded waiting rooms filled with sick people, broken bones, and woman much more pregnant than Alice.

"What did you think of that?" Alice asked once they were back in their car and pulling out of the mammoth sized parking out.

"Well… it was interesting," Mrs. Brandon answered, not taking her eyes off the road, "It's sad that you have to go through all this."

Alice bit the side of her cheek in response.

"Honestly, though," Mrs. Brandon went on with the slightest of smiles, "I'm the tiniest bit excited."

This surprised Alice. "Really?" She asked, confusion in her voice.

"Well, I would like to have another baby in the house," Mrs. Brandon answered, as if it was an obvious answer, "it's not like we can change the situation now, so we might as well look at the positive side of it."

"Okay, be honest," Alice challenged, "how upset were you when I first told you?"

"It would scare you if I told you the truth." Mrs. Brandon told her in a firm voice, as if her own anger had been as terrifying as horror movies that came out Halloween night.

"But you've calmed down?" Alice asked hopefully.

"Yes," Mrs. Brandon answered simply, "but you're still not going anywhere for about seven or eight years."

"Well… that's understandable." Alice chuckled, knowing that even though her mother was exaggerating, it was the honest truth. Once she gave birth, she would have a twenty four hour; seven day a week job. These months were really her last to have any sort of freedom, no matter how limited.

"I'm not even kidding Alice, you have to be an adult from now on. You have to be more responsible than anyone else your age." Mrs. Brandon lectured harshly, pointing out the fear Alice had been facing in the eye for the last week.

"Do you really think I haven't thought of that?" Alice asked, "It's all that's been on my mind."

"And it will be – for the next seven and a half months it will be." Mrs. Brandon told her, spoken like a true mother, "then, you'll be worrying for the rest of your life about your child, even after he is grown up and has a family of his own, you will think and worry about him each and every day."

"Can we stop talking about this?" Alice asked, ready to put the subject out of her mind for a few hours. It was still early in the morning, and with summer coming to a quick end, every day counted. Particularly when considering that very soon, Alice would have to tell Jasper that she was pregnant.

Deep down, Alice knew she would put this task off until the last minute – her parents had been easier to tell because they could never leave her. Jasper, on the other hand, could walk out of her life with a single word. More than anything, Alice could not handle a baby on her own. She needed the baby to have a father.

Although… if Jasper did not want to be a father, it was up to him. Alice would much walk away from this if she could, but she couldn't. Alice would be disappointed and pissed off if Jasper left Alice high and dry with a baby on her own, but she was not going to make him do anything.

As soon as Mrs. Brandon pulled into their driveway, Alice hoped out of the car and headed up to her room. She was grateful to finally be able to have some sort of peace and quite, after having people fussing over her for so long at the hospital. Honestly, they had tested her for every STD and vitamin deficiency under the sun, and then some. She could have told them on her own that she didn't have AIDS.

Plopping down on her computer chair, Alice logged onto her Myspace account with expert finger pricks. She never did learn how to type 'right' as some people called the Home Row format, but she was far faster than some of her classmates typing with two fingers.

Not many people were online right now: early morning hours and summer days did not mix for a bunch of fourteen and fifteen year olds. How people talked before the invention of e-mail and instant messaging went right over her head.

After finding no one she particularly wanted to talk to and toying around with her playlists for a few minutes, Alice quickly grew bored and logged off. She wondered if she should look for some information on pregnancy – or maybe even find a website full of baby names.

What _would _she name the baby? It seemed a waste of effort to consider it before she knew if the baby was a boy or a girl – but didn't a lot of people wait until birth to find out the gender? Alice didn't know how they survived for so long with the mystery – Alice couldn't wait to find out already, and she was only nine weeks along.

At least after her doctor's endeavor, she had a Zero Hour head of her: March ninth. That was as good a day to have a baby as any, Alice guessed. It wasn't like it would make her life any harder or easier depending on which day the baby was born. Still, spring was the most beautiful season there was.

Sighing deeply, Alice opened up her e-mail account, shifting through the dozens of spam, automated messages, and some guy who kept trying to sell her prescription meds online. There was one from Jasper, which Alice opened up immediately. It dawned on her that she had not talked to him in almost two weeks: he must be freaking out.

Turns out, he was freaking out for an entirely different reason.

**Author's note: I know, it's been about nine months since you got an update (coincidence or irony?) and I really have no excuse for it, so I won't try to make one. **

**Although, I must say, this is easily the tenth draft of this chapter I have written. Luckily, it has given me many ideas, and I am now pumped and ready to write! **

**Hope you enjoyed! **


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